The Board Chairman of Amenfiman Rural Bank, Dr Toni Aubynn, has suggested that the strong rural banks, should capitalise on the opportunities that have been created following the reforms in the banking sector.

Dr Aubynn observed, for instance, that the Amenfiman Rural Bank continued in that regard to explore the chances that had been created, complemented by its innovation in the rural banking sector and continued with human resource development.

The bank, among others, is now pursuing a new five-year strategy underpinned by both previous and current experiences, targeted to consolidate the gains made over the years with technological innovation in rural banking.

In an interview against the backdrop of a ceremony to induct 22 staff of the bank into the Amenfiman Talent Development Programme (ATAP), he noted that human resource was the key value to every component of a business, so guided by that, the bank took its development capacity building seriously.

ATAP, a pioneering initiative of Amenfiman, mooted some three years ago with the support of the board of the bank, is designed to capture employee career development as a key corporate policy.

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The programme is intended to develop a resourceful talent pool of staff to take up future management roles within the bank while also addressing a major industry concern of using internal recruitment to fill management vacancies.

The first batch of the graduates of ATAP, 17 candidates, passed out in June last year after successful completion of the programme.

For the current cohort, 22 staff of the bank have been carefully selected to undertake the two-year programme after a rigorous assessment exercise.

Dr Toni Aubynn said an external body was put in place to carry out the selection process.

He explained that this was meant to underscore the transparency and a level playing field in the selection of the staff who applied.

He urged the selected staff for the programme to endeavour to be mindful of the charge placed on them and work to justify their inclusion.

The Chief Executive of the bank, Dr Alex Kojo Asmah, at the induction ceremony observed that commitment to invest in the future of the employees was underpinned by the pursuit to create the enabling environment for employees to succeed in their work.

He said the bank took employee development seriously, thus the decision to embark on this.

Dr Asmah, therefore, charged the newly inducted staff of the programme not to come out as ordinary employees after the course but become great ambassadors who would meet the expectations of the programme.

“I am happy to see a lot of them taking bigger responsibilities and doing very well,” he said.

According to the Head of Human Resource and Administration, Mr Anthony Kwaw Adu-Broni, ATAP is intended to produce the right calibre of staff with the needed skills and competencies committed to meeting the business of the bank.

He said the bank was already realising the objectives for which the programme was introduced, following the graduation of the first batch.